My Magnum driven with the parking brake on for an hour....ahhhh!

**Magnumb_SRT** · 12-22-2006, 12:03 AM

Hey folks,

This is a tough tale to tell but thought I would air this embarrasing story out on this forum to possibly feel better somewhat ;-)

So the detail.....I was finally picking up my 1971 Trans Am with my wife today from the restoration shop after almost 2 years. The plan was for her to drive my MSRT8 behind me while I drove my TA. Basically a totally rebuilt 455HO and Muncie 4 speed, frame-off rotiserie restoration job and it looked perfect.

The problem was I put my emergency brake on when I parked the Magnumb and my wife had not driven my car before...and didn't notice the little red parking brake light on becuase she was trying to get used to the big thing compared to her little car, and we hit rush-hour going slow while I tried to brake in the new motor and tranny. She was pretty initimidated about driving it. When we got home she asked me...."what was that red light that was on while I was driving"? "Honey...was that the light you had on from your new exhaust a few months ago (my high flow cats)"? ....uh, what did you say sweetheart? Man the wrong day for me not to have my cell phone too!!

Anyway, we drove for an hour to our house at highway speeds......ah man it bugs me to type this but mistakes happen and I feel crappy for not thinking about it as well....I think it was the blue shine on the TA that made me not think about my Magnum for the first time. The real bummer here was that I had just gotten the slotted rotor and brake pad TSB replacement done a few weeks ago.

OK, so assuming the parking brake is just set on the rears as all my older cars do, I know there must have been pad and rotor wear.....the question is, how much? Stuff happens but curious of what you folks think.

My wife is really bummed tonight but I gave her a hug after I had a large amount of Bailey's in my Timmy's coffee ...and then I thought, "them's the brakes" ;-)

I attached a picture of my restored 71 Trans Am for all those Pontiac muscle car fans who now own a Dodge!

Glen

Btw everyone.....have a great Christmas and Ney Year with your families and hope you get all the mod parts for these amazing cars you wished for !!!!

**STAGE 3 R/T** · 12-22-2006, 12:06 AM

nice lookin car!

**ZMagnum** · 12-22-2006, 12:10 AM

It shouldn't be too expensive to get the parking brake checked and to replace worn parts.

**bigjim** · 12-22-2006, 12:16 AM

The parking brake is a unit all to itself! There is a drum INSIDE the rear rotor, you did NOT injure your pads or rotor. If you apply the park brake when you are moving and it still works without metal to metal noise forget it ever happened.

**bigjim** · 12-22-2006, 12:22 AM

Page 5-96,97,98 shows the detail in the service manual.

**Magnumb_SRT** · 12-22-2006, 12:33 AM

Hey bigjim....thanks for the reply and relief! So while in drive, the brake doesn't engage and I don't need to take it in. I do not have a service manual yet.

**36 chambers** · 12-22-2006, 04:00 AM

ha ha did this for about two minutes the other day and i was like that dam car is squeling next to mee....but it was my own car LMAO!!!!!

**k9eros** · 12-22-2006, 05:17 AM

Originally Posted by Magnumb_SRT

Hey bigjim....thanks for the reply and relief! So while in drive, the brake doesn't engage and I don't need to take it in. I do not have a service manual yet.

Yes, it is engaged. What you have is a small drum on the inside of your rotor hub, with very small drum brake pads that expand to engage the drum. That is the parking brake. It probably wore your parking brake pads and or the drum, but did no damage to the standard service (disk) brakes. If the parking brake still works don't worry about it until your next brake service, by then you'll probably need new rotors anyway and replacing the parking brake pads will be easy.

BTW, NICE T/A. I'll bet it will run with that 455/4 speed.

**FloridaRT** · 12-22-2006, 08:36 AM

It could be worse, you could be married to my wife.

1. She drove to work and parked her car, never noticed that she left the car running and locked the doors and went into work. Eight hours later when she can't find her car keys, she calls me at home. On my way to open the car for her, I get rear ended in my 96' Chevy Impala SS.

2. She once drove from Chicago to Michigan with the gear shift in Drive, NOT Overdrive. She calls me later to say that the car was using a lot of gas - oh well.

Women, can't live without em'

Bob

**bklynmag** · 12-22-2006, 09:36 AM

That is a nice ride. Good call keeping the Pontiac motor! So when are you going to let the wife drive the Bird?

**BobF's 6POINT1** · 12-22-2006, 09:54 AM

I thought the car was supposed to ding at us when we leave the parking brake on. Obviously I have no idea..hmmm.

Cool T/A by the way. Full original resto? My goal is to get one and do a modern resto. White with blue stripe.

**slvr bullet** · 12-22-2006, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by FloridaRT

It could be worse, you could be married to my wife.

1. She drove to work and parked her car, never noticed that she left the car running and locked the doors and went into work. Eight hours later when she can't find her car keys, she calls me at home. On my way to open the car for her, I get rear ended in my 96' Chevy Impala SS.

2. She once drove from Chicago to Michigan with the gear shift in Drive, NOT Overdrive. She calls me later to say that the car was using a lot of gas - oh well.

Women, can't live without em'

Bob

Your story has the makings of a good TV series. Can your wife act!!!
LOL

**jpilone** · 12-22-2006, 11:43 AM

That sucks, but I'm sure all she did was wear out the parking brake liners.

Sweet looking F body! Too bad muscle cars are darn near out of reach financially now. You are lucky to be "grandfathered" into to own such a fine car, like myself (under construction).

http://www.moparsofthepalmbeaches.co...v/convertible/

(forgive the crappy photo)

**NATE** · 12-23-2006, 04:01 AM

Originally Posted by FloridaRT

It could be worse, you could be married to my wife.

1. She drove to work and parked her car, never noticed that she left the car running and locked the doors and went into work. Eight hours later when she can't find her car keys, she calls me at home. On my way to open the car for her, I get rear ended in my 96' Chevy Impala SS.

2. She once drove from Chicago to Michigan with the gear shift in Drive, NOT Overdrive. She calls me later to say that the car was using a lot of gas - oh well.

Women, can't live without em'

Bob

If they did'nt have hoohoos we'd be hunting them for food.